Andrew Benintendi is a Yankee. Here is why Red Sox fans shouldn't be worried.

Photo: Vincent Carchietta - USA TODAY Sports

Andrew Benintendi has been traded to the New York Yankees. It seems like most Red Sox fans are scared that NY has some sort of a super team now. They think “Oh my god, Benny on the Yankees??? This is the end of the world!!!” Well, I am here to tell you that it isn’t the case. In fact, I am here to tell you why he is just an average player.

For starters, I never really liked him when he was in Boston and I honestly have no clue why. I just thought he was highly overrated and overhyped because of his hair. I mean, guys, the dude never hit .300, had a home run max of 20, and never had 100 RBI in a season, and people thought the guy was a superstar or something. Take this for example; His 2022 All-Star season is compared to 2021 Anthony Santander, 2018 Eduardo Escobar, and 2017 Brian McCann. None of those seasons were All-Star seasons. Now let's dive into his stats.

Yes, the Yanks need a good contact hitter, and Benny is hitting .316 with an OBP of .387, but those numbers fool many. Here are his advanced hitting numbers (Avg. Exit Velo, Max. Exit Velo, HardHit%, Barrel%, K%, and BB% from L-R). He is in the 47th, 62nd, 38th, 17th, 92nd, and 70th percentiles respectively. The best numbers he is putting up are the lack of strikeouts as he is in the top 8% of the league, but he is extremely bad in terms of Barrel% and HardHit rate, and he is below average in the 2 exit velocity categories. Does that sound like an All-Star to you?

It doesn’t get much better in terms of the outfield metrics, as he is in the 31st for jumps, just the 43rd for Outs Above Avg., and has an average speed time in the 53rd percentile. Even though his defensive metrics are below-average to average, he has his highest success rate in Outs Above Average, at 90% this season. While he does have a gold glove, he isn’t a Kevin Keirmaier or Jackie Bradley Jr, type of fielder, he will provide the Yankees with a solid glove.

Final Thoughts: This is a good move for New York as Benny can give them some offense in Joey Gallo’s spot, but it isn’t an end-of-the-world type of trade. His advanced metrics show that he has been making a lot of weak contact that has been falling, which means that he has been getting lucky this year with little jam shots and flares. Will his luck run out this year? I don’t know the answer to that but his time with the Yankees will be interesting to see.

Note: All the information I got was from Benintendi's Baseball Savant and Baseball Reference pages.